I guess having some brainless twit we don't mind dying seems to be a staple in a lot of horror movies, but there's a good reason why. I was dicussing my own comic with a friend as I was making it, and there were times she just shook her head and said "Man, that girl is DUMB!" My responce was "Well, if she was SMART, we wouldn't have a story, now would we?"

That's a good observation, I think. If everyone in horror movies was smart, there wouldn't be much of an entertaining story. There's too many examples to bring up, but I thought this would make a nice discussion.

What stupid people brought out a plot point/favorite scene, and when do smart people in horror stories work successfully?

Ash in all the Evil Dead Movies...smart and stupid all at the same time!

He rocks!

TheMidge28
Ash in all the Evil Dead Movies...dumb and stupid all at the same time!

He rocks!

I dunno about the first one. He seems more hopeless in that than dumb.

lefarce

TheMidge28
Ash in all the Evil Dead Movies...dumb and stupid all at the same time!

He rocks!

I dunno about the first one. He seems more hopeless in that than dumb.

I also meant smart and stupid!

I agree with that one. The first movie had a more serious tone and low budget...and sucked.

In 28 Days Later, the main characters were not stupid.

In fact, they were pretty smart compared to the characters in fluff horror movies like Turistas and Saw. They didn't stand around going "omg, zombies. I'mma die, lol." It never once slowed the plot down nor did it affect the tone of the movie at all. It actually made the movie feel more believable. Thus proving that horror movies work with people that have common sense, not sheep that wonder into a haunted house and get killed one by one in a repetitive fashion.

Bad horror movies have ppl that are stupid.

In fact, bad anything have ppl that are stupid. Such as soap operas, action films, CARTOONS, you name it.

If you find that your character has to be stupid in order for your comic's situation to work, then it's not really working.

(Unless you have a parody or comedy.)

Hmm, one thing I didn't take into accout after a while was the panic factor. Even the smartest people will go into a panic sometimes, and maybe this is mistaken for stupidity... I've never thought of that. Don't mind me, it just came to me.

Friday the 13th bugged me because the dumbest, most obnoxious characters were the last ones to die. Not to say that there were smart, likable characters in that movie. I liked how it ended anyway.

The only Friday 13th protagonist I liked (and can remember) is that telekinetic girl who repeatedly handed Jason his zombie ass. That was fun to watch.